SPOTLIGHT – Jai Hind, A Brief Overview of India’s Army

NOTE TO THE READER: The following is a necessarily brief overview of a top-tier national military force. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and are based solely on "open-source" research. This is the first of a series on national military forces that may not be well-known to the general reader.

Introduction

The modern Indian armed forces date from 1947, but trying to write even a general overview of the military history of India is far beyond the scope of an article such as this. Indeed, this article can give only the barest overview; thus, any holes that appear are unintentional, and were left out for the sake of brevity.

Postcard captioned "Gentlemen of India marching to chasten German Hooligans" in English and French, 1914

India did not lack for professionalism in armed forces when it gained its independence from Great Britain in 1947. Indeed, Indian forces had been fighting under British direction for well over 200 years, since at least 1774AD. Interestingly, this makes the modern Indian Army approximately the same age as its United States counterpart. Indian troops from across the subcontinent have repeatedly proven themselves the equal - if not the superior - to both British and European armed forces. India's success as an independent state is directly attributable to the professionalism of both its Civil Service, and its Armed Forces, part of the latter being the subject of this article.

At the time of the Partition of India, the various British Imperial Indian forces were divided between between India and Pakistan; other than the inevitable disruption caused to organizational structures, both new countries inherited highly professional forces, as well as school structures and defense industries. As a result, Indian forces performed very well in their firsttests, and ensured India's continued existence as a nation.

Indian soldiers of the 9th Battalion, Sikh Infantry test-firing a handgun as part of Malabar 2006 aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) - US Navy photo

Although there would be missteps later on, India's national integrity has never been seriously threatened over the course of the last seventy years, in stark contrast to many other former European colonies, who seem continually on the brink of complete and utter collapse.

With a total of over 4.7million troops - counting Active, Reserve and Paramilitary - India possesses the fourth-largest armed force in the world, ahead of even the People's Republic of China, and the third-largest Active Duty force, overall. Below, we will briefly glance at India's army, and will then assess its strategic capabilities.

Comprising some eighty percent of India's national forces, the Army is a modern force, striving to upgrade its capabilities to keep pace with the more "public" militaries, such as those of the United States, Britain, France and Germany. However, those states are not India's adversaries - those slots are taken up primarily by Pakistan and the PRC.

India, by and large, neither starts wars - directly or indirectly - nor seeks conflicts. In the past, however, India has faced attacks from both Pakistan and the PRC; in the former case, several times.

Indian army infantry vehicles move onto the firing range at Camp Bundela, India Oct. 26, 2009, during the Yudh Abhyas exercises - US Army photo

The Army's F-INSAS program is a development project aimed at reequipping the individual soldier with an advanced suite of combat systems. This program, modeled on the US Army's zombie-like "Future Force Warrior" program (that has been killed and resurrected so many times, it is now hard to keep track of the various iterations), is perhaps over-ambitious.

Lance Naik (Lance Cpl.) Fateh Singh, a member of the 4th Rajput Battalion, Indian Army confirms the zero of his INSAS assault rifle, Donnelly Training Area, Fort Greely, Alaska, 2007 -- US Army photo

However, the Indian Army demonstrated in 2016 that it has the intestinal and institutional fortitude to make choices that would embarrass other forces, in its acknowledgement that its 5.56x45mmINSAS rifle (no relation to the aforementioned program) simply wasn't working. The Indian Army's 2016 requirement is one of the clearest signs, yet, that the end of the "intermediate cartridge" ballistic dead-end is near, as the Army requirement acknowledges the need for a "full-power" (in this case, the venerable 7.62x51mm) cartridge for front-line service.

Real armies always strive to stay out on the edge of technological development. Truly professional forces are able to acknowledge when they have taken a wrong turn, and move forward to fix the issue...That's a lesson the US military would benefit from remembering.

Army Air

One of the challenges for the Army is its somewhat limited organic aircraft and helicopter assets. As it took the common page from other modern forces, India from the beginning separated its air forces from its ground forces. And, also like many modern armies, the result has been very spotty application of close air support (CAS) to the ground forces. Like all air forces, the Indian Air Force tries, but it is hampered in its efforts by both budgetary constraints and the associated need to focus on that service's core missions. India is not alone in this issue; the US military discovered the problems inherent in this type of division with its own "Key West Agreement" in 1948, a confused decision that would cause delays and confusions that would impact combat operations well into the 1970's.

On the brighter side, the Arjun Mk IIMBT has finally matured. After a rough start to its development cycle, serious problems in its earlier version, as well as major cost overruns and an especially long (37 years, to be exact) development cycle, the Arjunhas matured into a front-line weapon that is in the top tier of combat vehicles. The only real hurdle to its full-scale deployment, as with virtually every army, is money. On the other hand, its deployment, while slow, has finally allowed India to retire its 1940's-era T-55's. At the same time, the Defense Ministry settled on a modernization and upgrade program for its Soviet-era T-72's and T-90's, the better to avoid too unevenly improving systems.

A serious problem, however, is in India's IFV park. The 'Abhay' (Sanskrit: अभय,; English: "Fearless") IFV is simply a technology demonstrator (although the incorporation of a 40mm Bofors gun is an inspired choice for a main weapon). While DRDO has informed Russia that they intend to pursue an Indian IFV, rather than purchase the BMP-3, the Indian Army is stuck, in the meanwhile, with the abysmal BMP-2. The BMP series, generally, has a well-deserved reputation as the worst of the IFV field: its limited range, cramped compartments, horrible ride and poor armor are legendary. Armor - as has been decisively proven - cannot operate without infantry support, and infantry need something more than a "battle taxi", as good as the M113 might be. The original models of the US Marine Corps'LAV-series is another off-the shelf option that would be far superior to the BMP-series.

India's motorized military support is firmly anchored on three vehicles: the Ashok Leyland Stallion Mk III & IV, the Maruti Gypsy, and the Tatra 815. These are all solid, highly capable vehicles, supplemented by smaller numbers of more specialized frames, easily the equal of other nation's vehicle parks in capacity and reliability.

India, as is well-known, maintains a nuclear arsenal and an ongoing development plan. This arsenal is currently estimated at between 150 and 300 devices. Currently, the only ones known to be deployed are land-based designs - from the short-range Prithvi-I to the intermediate-range Agni-III - with longer-range land-based weapons, SLBMs and MIRVs under development.

This developmental pace is surprising only to people who lack a grounding on India's regional security situation. A nuclear deterrent is definitely something taken seriously by the People's Republic of China. But the main focus is India's long-time enemy, Pakistan. While the nuclear program was originally more of a prestige program than an operational imperative, increasing instability in the Muslim world, coupled to both Pakistan and Iran'snuclear programs, as well as both 9/11 and the 2008 Mumbai attack have transformed the nuclear program into a real and pressing project: India has serious reasons to maintain a nuclear arsenal...which is a very serious range issues that need to be solved, lest they get out of hand.

Tactically, however, the main wonder is the state of the Indian military's nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) program for individual troops to operate in such environments.

Conclusion

The Indian Army is a highly capable, well-disciplined and professional force, with a very long, and honored history. It has repeatedly demonstrated that it is capable of both making hard decisions, as well as admitting its errors, at least to a greater extent than many other top-tier forces. If the Indian Army has any weaknesses, they lay in procurement, which is something the force does not have full control over, although a critical need for a real airmobile component is its worst issue; there are very cogent reasons why virtually all modern militaries have abandoned parachute infantry as primary "first in" forces, in favor of heliborne formations.

The Army well understands that it needs to modernize its forces - too long tied into less-than-capable (to be polite), Soviet-era systems - a task made significantly easier by the increasingly close relationship to Western militaries, militaries that recognize the danger of an unstable, nuclear-armed Pakistan, as well as an increasingly bellicose China.

Armies exist to by time through intimidation, for political leaders to avoid conflict. But those forces, for their intimidation strategies to work, must be capable of following through on their promise of ability.

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